Less Is Moore
Idling back from yesterday morning’s 40-degree test session of the new Fountain Powerboats 34 Thunder Cat on the Pamlico River in Washington, N.C., Billy Moore described his approach to driving go-fast pleasure boats with passengers on board. For the better part of two days, Moore had been piloting new Fountain and Donzi Marine models for a couple of reporters from the West Coast.
An accomplished high-performance powerboat driver and veteran offshore racer, Billy Moore has nothing to prove when he takes passengers for a ride. Photo courtesy/copyright Ray Lee/Speedboat magazine.
“Cruising speed is when everyone is still smiling,” said Moore, who celebrated his 45th birthday last week. “I don’t ever want to scare anyone.”
The son of offshore racing legend Bobby Moore, who is widely credited with pioneering the throttleman position in the sport, Moore has more than his fair share of time running boats as if he stole them.. Near the end of the 2019 season, he throttled the Supercat-class CJ Graydel MTI raceboat with rookie driver/owner Chris Grant. In 2017, he throttled CT Marine—a 44-foot Victory catamaran—with owner/driver Andy Strobert in Super Boat International’s Unlimited class. Their season ended on a low note with horrific crash involving the CMS Racing MTI cat at the SBI World Championships in Key West, Fla.
That no one was seriously injured, much less killed, was a miracle.
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